MEF Round 27 Awarded Grants – November, 2015

Round 27 Grants – November, 2015

  1. Caring for our Courtyards
    This grant would involve the entire student body in our school-wide initiative to improve the courtyards at Fieler. These underutilized are in desperate need of trees and other vegetation. The small courtyard also features a memory garden with stones engraved of students who have passed while at Fieler. The lack of care is disrespectful. Each grade level will adopt an area and work as a team to decide what to add. This grant will provide each grade level with a budget to decide how the area will be used.
    Christine Waugh, Fieler, K-4, 500 students, $500.


  2. Maple Syrup at Deep River Park
    This grant is to provide students hands-on experience of understanding how one of their food items gets from farm to table. Students will study how maple trees produce sap and how it is tapped and processed to make syrup. They will attend a hands-on demonstration at Deep River Park, seeing the entire process along with a discussion from a park ranger. Students will use purchased maple syrup for a cooking activity after their trip to the park. This activity will assist our special needs students with the generalization of these concepts.
    Melissa Sczerba, MHS, 9-12, 25 special needs students, $100.


  3. Using Dry Erase Boards to Support a NO OPT OUT Classroom
    Using dry erase boards to support a no opt out classroom revolves around total class participation in various activities that in the past had only focused on the individual. The purpose of the grant is to purchase the materials necessary to implement new, more inclusive, teaching techniques at the middle school level. By receiving funding for the 9X12 whiteboards and markers, the students on the affected teams will gain more opportunities to demonstrate knowledge of the curriculum. The teachers facilitating these classes will have a powerful tool at their disposal to engage all students and easily identify, work with, and help struggling students.
    Andrew Augustyn, Pierce, 7th and 8th, 280 per year, $330.20.


  4. The Give Back Initiative
    The Give Back initiative (T.G.B.I) is a student-developed and mentoring program that incorporates selected students from all five of the elementary schools, Merrillville Intermediate School, and Merrillville High School. Younger students will be paired off with two high school students who would help them develop leadership skills, mentor them, and foster their potential growth and learning. The program would span throughout the year marked by specifically planned events and activities. These activities directly serve the purpose and mission of the program, which is to better prepare our students for leadership and academic opportunities. Once the students complete the program, they will be recognized at the end of the school year in a formal celebration with parents, mentors, and peers.
    Beverly Van Drunen, Social Worker, Miller, Iddings, Fieler, Wood, Salk, and MIS, grades 4, 6, and 9-12, 90 students, $400.


  5. Inclusion Dance for Special Needs
    FCCLA hosts an annual Inclusion Dance for seven of the local high schools’ special needs students. Students who are invited to the dance are always really excited to attend. It allows them to have social interaction with their friends and other high school students. The dance offers FCCLA members a great experience as well. All members thoroughly enjoy hosting the dance and seeing how excited and happy the dance makes the special needs students feel. A major part of the dance is the photos that each student receives so they are able to show their school friends and relatives. Having a live DJ is a highlight of the evening as well as hearing their named called when they receive their door prize. Without these items, the dance would be incomplete. Although students may have different abilities, everyone can dance. (Written by the FCCLA co-president, Jillian Manis)
    Carol A. Von Behren, MHS, 9th grade through young adults, 110-120 special needs students, 30 FCCLA members, and 89 Family/Consumer Sciences Students, $500.


 

TOTAL ROUND 27 GRANTS:  $1,830.20

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